


If the Neighbors See

by ashes0909



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: A year later, Canon Compliant, Franklin Barbecue, M/M, POV Alex Claremont-Diaz, Post-Canon, lake house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-20 21:33:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21063521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashes0909/pseuds/ashes0909
Summary: They didn’t settle into bunk beds this time.





	If the Neighbors See

**SPOTTED: First Son and Prince Henry Arrive at Private Texan Airline Hanger**  
**FirstPrinceLover:** Aw! The lake house-- how romantic.  
**TexasBorn13:** Didn’t Alex get his heart broken at that lake?  
**Moderator:** Any references to the Waterloo Letters is an immediate bump.  
**TexanBorn13:** Wow. Draconian Much?

For forty-five minutes, Alex’s hand had been intertwined with Henry’s. It wasn’t until he pulled up the driveway of the familiar Spanish style lake house that it started to sweat. The last time he’d been here, he’d was on the edge of a panic attack, all because the man sitting in the passenger seat decided to fade into the night like an actual ghost. Just over a year ago the pendulum had swung so suddenly, from standing on the precipice of declaring his love for Henry to getting ghosted by him.

A year later, and Henry was squeezing his hand. He smiled at Alex, the one that crinkled at the corners of his eyes and Henry had to be thinking about it too. But how could he and still smile like that? Alex wanted to ask, but didn’t want to ruin the mood.

They didn’t settle into bunk beds this time. They took the guest room Nora had used because having his way with Henry in the master bedroom--aka, his father’s bed, was just--No. And, despite his earlier nerves, he was definitely going to be having his way with Henry. Was having, apparently, because as soon as Henry put down their duffle bag he pinned Alex to the guest room door. It took Alex’s breath away, rendering him momentarily frozen until Henry, licking along his bottom lip, made him gasp. Henry took advantage of his parted lips, deepening the kiss.

Henry didn’t stay at his lips long. With one last peck and a wicked smile he sunk to his knees right there with him pushed up against the bedroom door.

After, Alex was a pile of limbs in Henry’s arms, having sunk down to the floor from the strength of his orgasm and desire to get his hands on Henry. It didn’t take long before Henry fell over the edge from Alex’s palm alone. It had been almost been two years, and sometimes Alex couldn’t believe he ever thought of this man as boring, when he looked at Alex with flushed cheeks and wide, honest eyes and said, “I love you. Last time we were here, I couldn’t say it--” he broke off, swallowing hard, “and I hurt you, and I’m--”

Alex’s shut his apology up with a kiss.

“It fucking hurt,” he whispered when he pulled away. “But you don’t have to say you’re sorry.” As he said the words, he realized how much he meant them. “I know why you did it. I understand how the puzzle pieces fell together in your head, even if the gilded image they created was wrong. We got here. That’s all that matters.” Alex kissed him again and this time he didn’t pull away.

They didn’t leave the guest room until dinner.

~~~

The sun set low along the horizon, casting an array of pinks and purples across the lake. Alex stood behind the grill, apron on and the humidity a gentle weight against his bare arms. Henry sat by the lake, his feet dangling in the water, pulling a Mexican Coke from his lips.

It was different here without everyone else, quieter, more private. It was intimate and new but also familiar, like they brought their brownstone down from Brooklyn and situated it right in the lake house backyard.

The next day they went for a drive. It was long and winding and not quite anywhere near the closest spot for a meal, but the hour’s drive was worth the wait to see Henry swaying on his heels, waiting patiently in the long line for Franklin Barbecue.

No one had recognized them yet. Alex slipped his hand into the back pocket of Henry’s shorts, bunching the oversized Henley around Alex’s wrist. The end of summer sun made the long sleeves a bit impractical, but it was soft and Henry’s so that was enough to leave it on when they left the lake house for their drive.

“Do you smell that?” The spicy sweet aroma of slow cooked barbecue wafted down the line.

“It’s impossible not to.”

“And…”

Henry met his gaze. “I’m so hungry.” It was almost a whinge.

“His...Royal Hungriness--?”

“Don’t.”

“Bossy,” Alex said, drenched in his best impression of Henry’s accent.

They ate barbecue just like the previous year, only this time Henry had opinions and favorites, and Alex loved watching him make Texas part of his thoughts and considerations, part of his life. Alex listened to it all with a smile, only breaking in to wipe barbecue sauce off his cheek.

~~~

**SPOTTED: Texas’ First Son and Prince of Wales Wait for Franklin Barbecue.**

**HarangedRoyalHighness:** No matter what title you hold, you wait in line for damn fine barbecue.  
**TexanBorn13:** I’m sure they could’ve cut it. ACD probably wanted to show him the true experience. Which…. Yeah, that’s freaking adorable.  
**FirstPrinceLover**: IS ALEX WEARING PRINCE HENRY’S BURBERRY HENLEY?!  
**HarangedRoyalHighness:** Burberry makes Henleys?

The photos they’d taken while they waited in line were already on Twitter, the hashtag FirstPrinceLovesFranklinBBQ trending number one in Texas. Henry wanted to drive the wide open spaces, so Alex chuckled from the passenger seat as he scrolled.

“What is it?” Henry asked, the Texas sunset hitting off his sunglasses and making him glow under its rays.

Alex flashed him the phone. “Texas loves you.”

Henry smiled, a dusting of pink against his cheeks. “Glad to have its approval. Considering I’m currently driving its favorite son off into the sunset.”

“They’d appreciate the fact that you appreciate that Texas has the best sunsets for running off into.”

“You’d know.” Henry laughed, lowering the windows and letting the wind rush through the Jeep.

They ended up outside on the patio, glasses full of sangria and the cicadas chirping in the distance. His hand hung loosely in Henry’s and as the moon rose over the lake, Alex was taken back to that night, when Henry’s eyes had turned distant and Alex felt a wedge shove between them from the simple act of Henry pushing himself out of the lake and onto the dock, gone in the morning.

But now, there were eager grins in line for barbecue, photographs with Texans and Twitter Moments. Now, they lived together in Brooklyn and Alex knew, beyond a doubt, that Henry loved him.

~~~

Alex woke to lips trailing across the bare skin connecting his shoulder blades. Goosebumps followed, and he shifted against the cotton sheets. Alex had thought Henry was still in bed with him, but when he spread his legs, they didn’t hit Henry’s muscular calves and the sheets had cooled.

“Waking up?” Henry whispered against his ear.

He turned over and blinked his eyes open. “Starting the day without me?”

Henry nuzzled into his neck. “Perhaps. Up.” Henry lighted swatted the side of his hip. “I have a surprise for you. It’s outside.”

Alex lifted his hips into the sheets, the soft fabric brushing along his bare skin. “I thought we’d have a surprise in here…”

Henry hummed, considering. “We could...but your surprise may get cold.”

That made Alex sit up sharp and fast, causing Henry to jolt back. “You cooked?”

It was here in the lake house, the morning after Alex realized he was in love, that he created a feast, a jazz brunch, as Nora so elegantly put it. Then, within hours, everything had fallen apart and he couldn’t look at pancakes or mimosas the same way. Even after they finally told each other the truth about their feelings for one another, the breakfast spread still brought him back to this lake house.

One bite into this brunch, he knew that unpleasant memory was going to be forever softened by Henry’s too salted pancakes and not strong enough mimosas. “Who puts salt in pancakes?” he asked around a laugh.

Henry pinkened, shrugged and said, “Everyone,” with incredibly transparent bravado.

“Everyone, huh? If you say so, His Royal Hyperbole.”

~~~

That afternoon Alex had tucked himself into a living room armchair, Property Law textbook perched on his thighs. The windows and sliding glass doors were open, letting in the breeze off the lake. Across the coffee table Henry has his face in a binder of another proposal for expanding the charity.

The lake house was many things - where his Dad setup shop after the divorce, where June first introduced the family to Evan, where he fell off the roof one Fourth of July party - but it was rarely silent. In this moment, they were a quiet, calm. Content. There were a sure certainty of looking up and seeing Henry there, working like he was in his own home, like he belonged there. It warmed Alex more than the afternoon sun shining through the windows ever could.

Henry looked up at the sound of Alex's glasses hitting the coffee table and a fond smile crossed his face at the sight of them, it only deepened when he looked up at Alex and noticed he was being watched. “Ready for dinner?” Henry asked.

Alex hummed, putting down his textbook beside his glasses. “I feel like all we’ve been doing is eating.” He stretched out on the couch. Henry’s eyes left his face when Alex parted his thighs. “Maybe I’m ready for something else.”

“When are you not?” Henry asked, teasing, but his gaze had darkened and hadn’t left his body.

Alex smirked. “Complaining?”

“No.”

Alex’s hands ran down his chest, over his stomach. “Then get over here.”

Henry swallowed. “Bossy.”

“You love it”

“Quite.”

~~~

**SPOTTED: Prince Henry a Royal Gentleman, Holds Door Open for First Son**  
**FirstPrinceLover:** SO CHIVALROUS OMG I CANT  
**TheBookWasBetter:** Another date night  
**FirstPrinceLover:** Every night is a date night when you’re that gorgeous  
**HappilyEverAfters:** Which are you even referring too?  
**FirstPrinceLover:** Yes.

“That’s it!” Alex declared, walking outside where Henry was reading on the swing at the end of the porch. “We’re not leaving the house today. It is a hermit day. I don’t care how tempting Texas is.”

Henry didn’t look like he was going to protest, just slotted a finger into his book and closed it in his lap. “I remember you once told me we could cook...what was it? Migas in the morning? Swim all day, and--Do you remember?” Henry smiled.

Alex felt his heart race at Henry’s words, they were Alex’s words from a year ago, when everything was still so twisted. Now he slotted next to Henry on the bench, thighs lining up warm and familiar. “Migas in the morning, swim all day, and never put clothes on,” Alex recalled. “Make out on the pier, and it won’t even matter if the neighbors see.”

Henry turned his jaw, and pressed a whisper soft kiss against his lips. “Sometimes, I can’t believe it,” Henry whispered when he pulled pack. “When you first said that, it seemed impossible.” He looked at Alex from under his eyelashes, smile small and chagrined. “You knew.”

Alex snorted. “I most certainly did not. But I hoped. I wondered.”

Henry hummed, wrapping an arm around Alex’s shoulders and pulling him close before kicking them off so they swung softly back and forth. “I dreamed.”

Alex didn’t say anything in reply, the heavy weight of Henry’s words settling between them, creating a moment that Alex knew they’d both remember in detail: the way the morning sun shone of the lake, the cloudless blue sky and the way it felt to be pressed up against one another. Time passed, though Alex couldn’t count or care how much, until he heard Henry’s stomach rumble.

“Sounds like it’s time for me to whip up some migas.”

~~~~

**SPOTTED: First Son and Prince Henry of Wales Hand in Hand at JFK.**  
**HarangedRoyalHighness:** Their holiday is over! They look well rested if I do say so myself.  
**HappilyEverAfters:** And tan--well, Henry’s more pink.  
**HarangedRoyalHighness:** I like this yearly lake house tradition. I hope they keep it up.  
**FirstPrinceLover:** Me too!

_fin_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I absolutely and obsessively love this book and am so happy to be part of its growing fandom.


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